Bulgarian Press Review, February 2, 2010

Press Review
Sofia, February 2

HOME SCENE

"Troud" highlights the President's decision to veto amendments to the Defence and Armed Forces Act and to the Meetings, Rallies and Demonstrations Act. This emerged after Georgi Purvanov's meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. The President argued that the amendments to the defence law curtailed his powers as Supreme Commander-in-Chief as the chief of defence is to report directly to the defence minister instead of to the President as now. The President and the Prime Minister also agreed that the security zone around the buildings of the Parliament, the President's Office and the Council of Ministers where no protests will be allowed be set between 5 m and 20 m.
In "24 Chassa" Defence Minister Anyu Angelov says that while he accepts the veto, he is confident that the President's powers are intact. He says he is familiar with the differences between the President and Parliament which have led to the veto on the Defence and Armed Forces Act, and believes that unanimity will be achieved with concerted efforts. Angelov explains: "The President exercises his powers on a proposal by the Council of Ministers. That is why there is no need to stipulate that the top military chief is subordinated to the President as well. It has never happened that the President issued an order to the chief of defence which was not known to or proposed by the defence minister or the Council of Ministers."

***

"Sega" reports that the Prime Minister put an end to criticisms of the court. He pledged a new work style, including a moratorium on recriminations between the institutions, at a meeting with the Supreme Judicial Council. Borissov learned from the explanation of Lazar Gruev, President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, that the Prime Minister cannot state his opinion on lawsuits in advance because this would lead to judgements against Bulgaria in Strasbourg.

***

Socialist Party leader Sergei Stanishev called for a polygraph test for Borissov, "Troud" writes. Stanishev claimed that the Prime Minister's GERB party had promised an accelerated VAT input tax recovery, while in reality 700 million leva were owed in VAT to companies. Stanishev argues that this is strangling the real economy, and at the same time tax audits and frozen accounts are stifling businesses, forcing them to cut wages and jobs. Stanishev explains that unemployment is rising and wages are falling because the government lacks a vision and competence. The anti-crisis plan should have been updated, including new priorities, which did not materialize, the Socialist leader says.

***

"Sega" reports that people are blocking roads to resist hospital reform. On Monday Gotse Delchev in the southwest residents and hospital staff blocked a road junction for an hour in protest at what they claim are drastic cuts in financing. More rallies were held in towns in Northeastern Bulgaria.
Boyko Borissov commented: "The health care reform is under way, this is all there is to it. No one has accomplished a perfect reform overnight. I believe this is the way to do it."
In "Troud" trade union expert Krustyo Petkov comments that people are rising against the way reforms are implemented, not against the reforms themselves. He says that protesting doctors and railway workers were followed by farmers and tobacco growers, protests are brewing against hospital closures and a rise in the retirement age. GERB administration seems to be looking for trouble through confrontation with millions of people. Health care concerns 7.5 million people, and the retirement age will be a concern to 1.5 million people in the coming years. The government should appoint experts to advise the Prime Minister and his "imported" team about how to reform public services without provoking discontent.

***

In "24 Chassa" Kolyo Paramov says he resigned as Borissov's advisor so as not to put him in "delicate situations". The financier who was to help Borissov about "the link between the real economy and practical policy" explained his unexpected rise and even more unexpected fall in a week's time blaming the attack on him on "court economists who tell every government things that will win them favour". He definitively blamed the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) for orchestrating the attack. For his part, Borissov said it was silly for one to be advised only by like-minded people, but promised to mend the situation.
"Sega" asks who makes the appointments and dismissals in Borissov's cabinet. The problem is getting out of control, the daily says, referring to Prof. Ilian Mihov who was to become deputy prime minister and to Paramov. The daily asks who suggested those appointments, implying that there was outside intervention.
In "Standart News" sociologist Yulii Pavlov, Director of the Centre for Analyses and Marketing, says that good experts are not to be found in the parties. He was surprised that Borissov yielded to the pressure of UDF and DSB leaders Martin Dimitrov and Ivan Kostov and indefinitely put off Prof. Mihov's appointment. It was even more strange that he invited a left-wing economist, Paramov, to join his team. Pavlov notes that good economists can be found both at the Academy of Sciences and at the University for National and World Economy. He suggests that Borissov work with lecturers and even with advisory councils, which would greatly help the government.
In "Sega" Environment Minister Nona Karadjova says permissions for planting GMOs will be hard to come by. She denies that the sale of foods with GM ingredients is being liberalized. "Our only wish is to bring Bulgarian procedures in line with the EU's, which require case-by-case discussion of every GMO-related request. Seeing that people are very concerned, we will have the provisions which ban GMO in Natura 2000 areas and near organic crops." Karadjova promises that anti-GMO views expressed during the public discussion will be heeded.

THE ECONOMY

Quoting the Finance Ministry, "Troud" reports that the 2009 budget deficit was 529.5 million leva, 0.8 per cent of GDP. This ranks Bulgaria in the group of EU countries with the best financial indicators.
Bulgarian National Bank vice Governor Dimiter Kostov says in "Troud" that it is important to have a balanced budget. It should be balanced in the long term on the basis of good expenditure management. He refers to real expenditures because the tax burden is determined by the actual resources used in the public sector, not by the taxes in nominal terms, and it is these actual resources that must be controlled. It is a different matter if there will be a deficit or a surplus in an individual year, Kostov says.
In "Sega" Employment Agency Director Rossitsa Stelianova says that in January, 24 employers filed reports on major job cuts, which at 1,096 are nearly three times down from a year earlier when over 3,000 job cuts were made. The economic recovery in Bulgaria is largely due to recovery in major investors like Germany and France. Stelianova is confident that the January jobless rate will not exceed 10 per cent.
"Troud" writes that from March 1 the tax authorities will call or send e-mails to people with unpaid fines to state departments. They will be prosecuted only if the warnings are ignored. The National Revenue Agency has taken over the collection of fines from the State Receivables Collection Agency since January.



Links to some Bulgarian info websites in English:

• http://www.bta.bg/site/en/indexe.shtml
• http://www.novinite.com/index.php
• http://www.focus-fen.net/

Most discussed topics of the day – Sofia, February 2, 2010

• Protesting Greek farmers have not lifted the blockade for trucks for nearly 48 hours now and some 300 TIRs are currently waiting at Koulata to cross over to Greece, Border Police said. Only cars and buses are let through in both directions and the line of trucks is already over 6 km, but all traffic will be stopped at 11:00 am. The Ilinden-Exochi checkpoint will be closed for all vehicles
from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, the Interior Ministry said.The situation at the other two border checkpoints, Kapitan Petko Voivoda and Zlatograd, is normal.

• Winter conditions in Bulgaria are reported as "heavy" while in some regions in the country they are "severe". Around the riverside city of Rousse, roads are partially closed due to ice cover. Accordingly, hundreds of lorries are queueing to cross the bridge to Romania. Reportedly, the long line of lorries extends all the way from Dunav Most, all around Rousse, reaching the interchange leading for Sofia.
•
• Bulgaria will adopt only such laws on GMO that are necessary to meet the requirements of the European Commission, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said before journalists on Tuesday. Borissov visited a Laboratory of General Ecology with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). "The Government and I are against the development of genetically modified organisms," he stated.

• Since the end of October 18 clerks with the State Agriculture Fund have been suspended following a check for conflicts of interest. The news was announced at a press conference of the Agriculture Fund.The most striking case is the dismissal of a chief expert in the anti-fraud and anti-corruption unit. The official recommended the payment of a project although SAPARD irregularities had been established in it.Two officials were dismissed from the Agriculture Fund’s office in the southwestern municipality of Blagoevgrad because of links to consulting firms. Three more officials with the Fund’s technical inspectorate in the northern municipality of Montana were fired because of family relations with beneficiaries – without declaring a conflict of interest they were verifying Rural Development Program projects submitted by relatives of their.